Tag: Fiction

Sunday Summary – 3rd September 2023

Posted on by

We’re back with another Sunday Summary post, so make yourself comfy! I’ve had a pretty good week all in all. I’ve kept up with my average reading speed for the month despite being back at work (and with one stint of overtime too). It’s fair to say I’m back into the normal swing of things!

As always, let’s take a look at what I’ve shared already in my blog this week before my reading updates. My first post of the week was a review of a book that pushed me out of my comfort zone, but didn’t bowl me over. I’m not a romance reader, but I read The Duke and I as a result of enjoying the Netflix series, Bridgerton.

My next and most recent post (before this one) was my Monthly Wrap-Up of all the books I picked up in August. As always, I set myself an ambitious TBR that I didn’t quite finish, but I got close enough to be happy with the end result. If you want a reminder of the books I read in August and a feel for my overall impressions ahead of review, check out that post!

 

Books Read

 

Wizard and Glass

My week has been dedicated to reading Wizard and Glass by Stephen King. As of my last Sunday Summary update post, I had made a healthy start to this book having read the first 160 pages. Since that post, I’ve got onto read a further 500, which I’m pleased with! You must be thinking, “Gosh, Rebecca, you’ve got to be at about the end by now?” Unfortunately not! Wizard and Glass comes in at just under 900 pages, so I have a little way to go yet. My current page count puts me at 70% progress through the book.

Events that have been building up are just starting to come to a head now. I’m really excited to see where the plot goes from here and how the conflict unravels. My goal for the evening is to get through as much of this book as possible, as I will have to put it down briefly in order to fulfil other reading obligations. More on those below and in my upcoming Monthly TBR post. Depending on how quickly I read these two other books, I may get to dip into Wizard and Glass throughout the week. If the plot gets good, I’m going to find it very hard to resist the temptation regardless!

 

Books Discovered

No news is good news this week! The TBR hasn’t changed at all in the last seven days.

 

Coming Up…

My first blog post of next week will be my monthly TBR for September. I have a number of exciting books coming up in that reading list. I have a couple of thrillers, some fantasy, a non-fiction, historical fiction… sci-fi too. It’s a diverse one! It’s also been fun to include my Instagram followers on one of these picks this week. I hope you can check out that post on Tuesday!

On Friday, I’ll be sharing the next instalment in my Shelf Control feature. This week’s featured book is unusual in that it’s one of a few translated books on my TBR; this particular historical fiction/thriller was originally written and published in German! If you’re intrigued, please do check out my post on Friday!

Sunday is going to be a busy day on the blog as I’ll technically be sharing two posts. The first book I need to read on my September TBR is for a blog tour post due on Sunday. If you’ve read any of my reviews for M.J. Porter’s Eagle of Mercia series, then you can look forward to my review of the fifth book in the series (released next week) in just a week’s time!

I’ll also share my usual Sunday Summary post on that date. As priority needs to go to the blog tour, I will share my Sunday Summary update at 11:59pm.

I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s Sunday Summary! I’m off to devour as much of Wizard and Glass as I can!

In the comments, drop me the title of the last book you couldn’t put down at the end!

 

signature

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Threads

Monthly Wrap-Up: August 2023

Posted on by

Pinch, punch, first of the month! Hello everyone and welcome to my monthly wrap-up post! It’s the beginning of a new month, so I’m excited to recap what I’ve been reading with you.

At the beginning of next week I’ll be sharing my September reading list with you. I hope you can join me for that on Monday. In the meantime, let’s take a look at my reading progress compared to last month’s TBR! I had high hopes of completing this TBR even though I put more on it in anticipation of reading more in my time off work. I did read more, but I had a good number of books on the list… and a few chunky ones as that.

Let’s recap my reading progress throughout August!

 

Books Read

 

The City of a Thousand Faces

August’s TBR was a mix of genres, mediums and book lengths. I started the month with my ‘fixed read’ that fell in middle ground in terms of length.

The City of a Thousand Faces is not your typical fantasy in terms of setting. We explore a city in a fantasy setting that reminded me very much of real life cities like Istanbul. Think arid landscapes, powerful sultans etc.

At 560 pages, this fantasy made for good exploration of a new world. The book can only be titled The City of a Thousand Faces as each character seems to have at least two – metaphorically of course! The characters and the plot are political in nature, and there was an awful lot of backstabbing!

The City of a Thousand Faces made for an okay read. It wasn’t my favourite book of the month, but I was interested to see how events concluded. It’s the most neutral review in this monthly wrap-up; the experience got better from here on out. 

 

Spike

The first a non-fiction book I picked up throughout August was Spike. If you think it is a little early to pick up and read books about the pandemic, then maybe hold off this one for a little while. If you do decide to pick it up, then I hope, like me, you find this an interesting and insightful read.

The book offers insight into the handling of the pandemic. We start looking at events from a global scale before narrowing its focus to the UK’s handling of the pandemic from the point at which it landed on our shores. There were insights in this book that are both shocking and in equal measure unsurprising. That may sound contradictory… but hear me out. What is shocking is how lackadaisical some of the approaches were when the pandemic was in its early phases. In ways, it is unsurprising based on who those individuals are!

I quite enjoyed this read, even when you take into consideration the topic and the consequences of this event has had our lives as we know it. The pandemic has impacted us for a number of years already and will continue to do so. This book only touches on a relatively short period of time and there may well be more to add to this at a later date. Should such a book come out, I would definitely read this one as well.

 

Ship of Destiny

The longest book on my August TBR that we’ll talk about in this monthly wrap-up was Ship of Destiny by Robin Hobb. I’ve been looking forward to this conclusion to The Liveship Trader trilogy – and for very good reason! These books are very quirky in their fantasy set up, and at last we see the events over the prior 1800 odd pages lead characters into their destinies.

With prior Hobb books, I have on occasion felt the length and depth of the storylines. That’s not to say I haven’t enjoyed them. However, I am very conscious of the fact I’m reading them, and that I’m having to read quite a lot in order to get through the page count. That wasn’t the case with Ship of Destiny at all. I was so invested in the narrative that the pages flew by, despite the dense storyline and events to take in. I’d go so far to say that I think Ship of Destiny is my favourite Hobb book so far!

 

A Brief History of Time

My second non-fiction read of the month was A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking. This book pushed me out of my comfort zone because it is quite technical (and I am not). I enjoyed the concept of science and space despite not being so versed in complex, physical and mathematical equations and concepts. This book has those in abundance, although Stephen Hawking does do his best to explain these in simplified and practical examples.

Even though I’m not technically minded, I was able to read A Brief History of Time on a relatively superficial level and still find it interesting. I’m sure there is plenty more that other readers could get out of the book. However, I will save that for them. Although it is a science book, you don’t have to be too scientifically minded to understand the theories, principles, and discussion points that Stephen Hawking brings up throughout.

 

Leadership and Culture

Non-fiction isn’t a genre I read a whole lot of, although you know by now that I am trying to read more it. My third and last non-fiction on my August TBR and for inclusion in this monthly wrap-up is Leadership and Culture. I read this book whilst I was off work and managed to read it quite quickly. As someone who is invested in improving office culture and would be interested in a management position in future, I wanted to read this book ahead of that time to effectively set myself up.

This book has a lot of practical examples of do’s and don’t’s when it comes to management versus leadership. These are all examples I have seen in the workplace and felt their effects as well. I’m sure everyone has! For anyone who currently is in a management position and wishes to make improvements, the book is full of practical tips in order to identify or work on sticking points. Although I’m not necessarily in a position to adopt any of these now, I am in a position to encourage the healthy habits that some of these tips try to adopt. I can help encourage others to speak out by speaking out for myself, for example.

 

Wizard and Glass

The last book to feature in today’s monthly wrap-up is my final read of August, Wizard and Glass by Stephen King. I was determined not to leave it another four years before I returned to The Dark Tower series. It’s not even been four months… I’m sure you’re proud of me! On a serious note, I really enjoyed going back to the series and exploring the narrative and history of the world in a little bit of a different way. Whereas previous books hint at prior events and leave a lot to the imagination, this book seems to have more of a focus on building up that backstory.

It’s no wonder I didn’t get to the end of this before the end of the month, all things considered. This book is nearly 900 pages in itself as well! 

 

Summary

Unfortunately, I didn’t quite get to Lost Solace. It was ambitious to try and tack this onto the end of what is already an extensive reading list. It’s not going away though. As I didn’t get to it in August, expect this to feature on September’s TBR coming out on Monday next week.

Over the course of August I read in excess of 2,500 pages. That’s an average of 80 pages a day, so not insignificant at all. I needed to read 107 pages a day in order to get through my reading list. That was quite an ambitious target! If I had no other plans for my time off work, this may have been a possibility. The fact is, I did use that time off for other things as well. I still made fantastic reading progress and I’m pleased with what I’ve achieved!

That concludes this monthly wrap-up post. What books have you been reading recently? Do you have any recommendations for me?

 

signature

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Threads

Sunday Summary – 27th August 2023

Posted on by

Welcome to my Sunday Summary update post this August bank holiday weekend. I hope you’re having a good weekend whatever you’re doing. My time off work is coming to an end, but I’ve made good use of the time!

Aside from reading, I’ve been keeping to my usual blogging schedule. My first post of this week went live on Tuesday; I shared several books I unhauled earlier in the week. It’s not a common post I share, but it felt apt as I’d just gone through my shelves to make some room anyway!

Next, I shared my regular Friday feature post – Well, I Didn’t Know That! For this week’s feature, I shared some of the tips and tricks I’ve learned taking an online course on social media marketing. If you want to improve visibility and engagement on your posts, why not give some of these a try?

 

Books Read

 

A Brief History of Time

I left off in last week’s Sunday Summary having read 25% of A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking. If you haven’t read this book, it’s quite a technical science book about space, time, and the theories as to the history of the planet and universe as we know it.

I’m not a science geek, so I ended up reading and understanding the concepts in the book on a superficial level. It was easy enough to follow, especially as Stephen Hawking helped explain some of the principles of the theories in approachable, everyday terms. I was initially sceptical of the later chapters being a bit difficult. But, the way the book has been written means that what we’ve read and understood previously helps us understand these later concepts!

I enjoyed this non-fiction book, not only for the subject matter but also for the change of pace. It was a stretch out of my comfort zone, but I wouldn’t rule out reading similar books in future!

 

Leadership & Culture

I jumped out of one non-fiction book into another, and quite a different subject matter entirely! Leadership & Culture concerns management in the workplace, and how different management styles can affect the work dynamic, trust and ultimate success of companies. The book mainly targets current managers, however, can easily be read by aspiring managers too. I’d argue if you want to get into a position like that, you want to learn this before you start on the wrong foot!

The authors of the book both have extensive leadership experience. They draw upon techniques and real examples of how leadership vs. management impacts employees and companies, as well as suggesting exercises to identify where improvements can be made by the reader in their own environment.

Leadership & Culture was a very quick read to pick up. It had a nice tone and easy-to-follow narrative style that I enjoyed. Should I find myself in a management position in future, it is a book I will revisit to implement the strategies detailed within.

 

Wizard and Glass

The final book I started this week is Wizard and Glass by Stephen King. This is the fourth book in The Dark Tower series -one I have really enjoyed to date!

Getting into Wizard and Glass has been a breeze. Since I’ve not left it so long since I read the last instalment earlier this year (compared to the four-year gap starting The Waste Lands in May), I’ve been able to pick up where I left off without a recap. The events of the book pick up exactly where he Waste Lands finishes. That book had a really interesting cliffhanger of a conclusion, so it was great to get straight back into that and resolve what was happening early doors.

As of this Sunday Summary update post, I am 159 pages into Wizard and Glass. Overall, I’m still a little behind schedule to finish my reading by the end of the month. However, I’m not too far behind and what I’ve read of Wizard and Glass has gone really quickly. I found this with the prior book in the series as well. If I remember correctly, I read that in just a handful of days! I’m hoping for a similar experience here!

 

Books Discovered

Having read a great recommendation/review earlier this week, I have added a book called Among Thieves to my TBR. I even did myself a favour and made a note of the link to that post, so you can go and check it out for yourself!

After reading the review and the synopsis of the book, I have every faith that I’m going to enjoy it. I have read similar books and themes previously and got on with them really well! here’s hoping I have the same experience with this book!

 

Coming Up…

My first blog post next week is going to be another book review. As I’m sure you won’t find it difficult to believe, I have quite a list of books to catch up with and share my thoughts on. Next week’s featured book is one I read even though it is a genre I don’t read a lot of. I decided to pick it up purely because I enjoyed the Netflix series, (against all odds I hasten to add!) If you haven’t guessed already, it’s The Duke & I by Julia Quinn.

On Friday, we will be officially in the month of September! With the coming of the new month, I’ll inevitably be kicking off with a wrap-up of the books I read throughout the month of August!

As always, I will be sharing another Sunday Summary update with you next weekend and going over the latest books I’ve picked up, any I’ve added to the reading list, and a schedule of what you can expect content-wise the following week.

That’s a wrap for this Sunday Summary post! Let me know in the comments what book you are currently reading!

 

signature

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Threads

Sunday Summary – 20th August 2023

Posted on by

Don’t Sunday evenings roll around so quickly? You know the day, and you know the time, so you know that we are back with another Sunday Summary update!

I’ve enjoyed this week off work! It’s been great to spend some time catching up on jobs around the house, as well as taking time for reading and other hobbies. I’ll get into what I’ve been reading very shortly. First, let’s recap what’s been going on with the blog this week.

My first post of the week was a review of the first book of a series I started last year. I read this book as it was recommended to me. Although it isn’t something I read a lot of, I enjoyed it very much. If you want to check out my thoughts on Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club, you can find a link to that post here.

On Friday, I shared the next instalment in my regular First Lines Friday feature. In last week’s Sunday Summary post, I challenged myself to pick this week’s feature from my physical TBR. If you want to check out which book I ultimately featured, there is a link to that post above as well.

 

Books Read

 

Ship of Destiny

I left off in last week’s Sunday Summary update having read just over a third of Ship of Destiny by Robin Hobb. As I shared in that post, I was a little bit behind as of that point. However, I was optimistic I’d catch that back up in my week off.

I mostly did; I made steady progress with the book throughout this week, although I did end up speeding up at the end of the book. I expected this would happen! I’m the kind of person who can’t leave the ending. If I’m watching a series, I can’t leave the last episode for another sitting. It’s become a bit of a joke in my family. The same can be said for Ship of Destiny.

At the point of just 100 pages left in the book, all the events of the trilogy come together to the final conclusion. There was absolutely no way I wasn’t binge reading it! I’d already read almost all my daily allocation by the time I got to that point. I carried on regardless! It was a fantastic ending to a long and well built-up trilogy – I’m not surprised that it became an easy, five star rating!

I finished Ship of Destiny just one day behind schedule, and even then, I was only about 70 pages behind target.

 

A Brief History of Time

The next book I picked up this week is a complete change of pace. In an effort to read more non-fiction this year, I have finally picked up this interesting yet very science-based book. Just a little bit of a change from a large fantastical work of fiction…

As of this update, I am a quarter of the way through A Brief History of Time. If I’m honest, I’ve dropped the ball in the last day or so. I didn’t read any of the book yesterday and so far, I haven’t read any today either. I will be looking to pick this up again before I go to bed for the night to recover some of that gap though.

My experience of this book so far is that generally speaking, I am able to follow it. There are some very scientific elements to the book already. I’m trying to understand it only on a basic level and then move on as opposed to digging into the science. I don’t have a science brain, and I’m not going to try! There are some basic principles which I’m able to follow (such as the Doppler effect etc). But, when you start to get into quantum mechanics, you might as well be talking a different language!

I’m undecided as to where this book is going to go in terms of complexity in the later chapters. I have a feeling that we might end up being a little bit more technical later, but I’ll deal with that then.

 

Books Discovered

Given that I’ve spent the week mostly at home and enjoying the books I have, I haven’t discovered anything new this week!

 

Coming Up…

I’ll be starting off the week with an uncommon but opportunistic post on my blog. However, as one of my jobs whilst I’m off work is to go through my bookshelves and clear out any books I no longer want, I’ve decided to share which books I’m unhauling with you and why!

On Friday, I’ll be back with another Well, I Didn’t Know That! feature post. One of the things I want to look at from a personal perspective is social media marketing. I want to do that for myself as I am trying to get more involved with Instagram and posting on social media more generally. It’s not something that’s natural to me, and it’s something I have to make a very deliberate effort to do. As I want to try and make the most of those efforts, I’m going to try and bolster my skills. With this in mind, I may group this into this regular feature post and teach you some of the techniques I learn over the course of the week!

The final post I will share at the end of next week is the one and only Sunday Summary! I’ll be back with even more reading progress to share with you, as well as details of any books, I’ve discovered over the course of the week, and of course, what are you can expect on the blog the week after!

That draws to a close for this week’s Sunday Summary update!   

What was your last five star read?

 

signature

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Threads

Book Review: The Thursday Murder Club – Richard Osman

Posted on by

A little over a year ago I read my first ever book by Richard Osman – The Thursday Murder Club. In today’s review, I’m going to tell you all about it!

I read the book as it was both recommended and loaned to me by Chris. I’m not one for reading much into such a lighthearted genre, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be a hit. It definitely was! With the fourth book in the series less than a month away from release, now is a perfect time to share my experience for any readers considering it!

 

The Thursday Murder Club – Richard Osman

Genre: Mystery

Pages: 382

Audience: Adult

Publisher: Penguin

Publication Date: 03 Sept 2020

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

Goodreads – The Thursday Murder Club

In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved murders.

But when a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep, the Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live case. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves.

Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer before it’s too late?

 

My Thoughts

 

Plot

If it wasn’t already apparent that a book about four septuagenarians living in a retirement complex and solving murders wasn’t going to be a bit on the silly side, let me clear that up for you now. It is! However, I think that’s totally fine. Die hard serious mystery fans, maybe this one isn’t for you. That’s not to say there isn’t a well written mystery in this narrative though!

The scope of the story ended up being far larger than I anticipated. I enjoyed the unpredictability of events as they unfolded and how far flung the ripples of events in Coopers Chase were felt!

 

Characters

If there’s one thing I enjoyed most from this book, it’s the characterisation. The protagonists of this story are very different from each other and endearing in their antics. Elizabeth is perhaps the most unlikely of the group. However, her nosiness and mischief making are hilarious to read… and her ability to rope other people in is one of the main plot drivers.

Joyce is the quiet one in the group, but not to be underestimated either! She could perhaps be considered the most normal of the four, but she’s easily sucked in by Elizabeth and then gets carried away.

Ron and Ibrahim are also polar opposites of each other. Ron isn’t afraid to mosey in, or brag about his son. Ibrahim, on the other hand, is a very quiet and unassuming, but intelligent man.

Together they make up the unlikely band that set out to resolve the murder on their doorstep. The way these characters relate and bounce off each other is full of comedy moments.

 

Narrative Style

Broadly, The Thursday Murder Club is full of light-hearted narrative and humorous character interactions. Underpinning that is the ongoing murder mystery, but honestly, that feels a bit secondary. The ease of the way in which this book is written, coupled with the characters of the book, make this the easy read it is.

I enjoyed it as a simple read to pick up in between larger and denser books. It’s one that you can pick up on a whim and not have to concentrate too hard on if you don’t want to. Equally, if you are the type of person to try and unpick the clues to the mystery, there is definitely scope for that too! You take out what you put in I suppose.

Having said that, whilst the majority of the book is nice and lighthearted, there were a couple of chapters that really threw me. The narrative switches from its light and easy-going style to a couple of quite dark chapters that made me cry when I read them. That said, the stark contrast between the two really emphasised the message and the events that are happening in those couple of chapters. I found that really powerful.

 

Summary

The Thursday Murder Club doesn’t take itself too seriously, and prospective readers shouldn’t either. It’s a fun murder mystery book with a ragtag group of pensioners sticking their noses in where they shouldn’t, but in the most ridiculous and hilarious of ways.

If you’re looking for a good laugh, great character dynamics and a nice easy read, then pick up The Thursday Murder Club!

Have you read The Thursday Murder Club? What did you think?

 

signature

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Threads

Sunday Summary – 13th August 2023

Posted on by

We’re back at the end of another week, and that can only mean it’s time for another Sunday Summary update!

This week has been busy; outside of the blog, I’ve been wrapping up at work for a two week period of leave. As well, I had friends round one evening this week. All this as well as the reading and blogging makes for a busy schedule.

That said, I managed it all pretty well! In terms of the blogging schedule, I got both my Top Ten Tuesday post and Shelf Control posts out when I said I would (Tuesday and Friday respectively). This week’s Top Ten Tuesday featured books I want to read as a result of their featuring in prior TTT posts. Friday’s Shelf Control featured the start of a historical fiction series about one of my favourite periods – the Tudors. If you’re interested in either of those posts, I’ve linked them above as usual.

 

Books Read

 

Spike: The Virus vs The People

I left off in my last Sunday Summary post with 29% progress into Spike: The Virus vs The People.

I wanted to read Spike as a means of insight into the early days of the pandemic and how it was handled. This is largely written from the perspective of the UK as opposed to the whole world, although this is touched on in places in the book. It’s strange to think that I have lived through a significant part of history that will be talked about for years to come. Although it is still relatively early days in terms of the pandemic and the consequences, Spike has already given me some ideas as to how we have suffered beyond the virus.

On the one hand, I’m shocked to have read how unprepared both the UK government and the world were for such a mass event. Equally, am I surprised that the UK Prime Minister wasn’t attending key meetings just weeks before lockdown was announced? No, not really.

Spike gave me the insight I was looking for and made for an interesting non-fiction read. I’ve enjoyed the analysis on actions taken and what we know now – most importantly, what we should have done sooner.

 

Ship of Destiny

Next, I moved on to my current read, Ship of Destiny by Robin Hobb. This is the final book in the Liveship Traders trilogy, and the sixth book in the wider Realm of the Elderlings series.

I’m already a huge fan of Robin Hobb based on the books I’ve read so far. As of this Sunday Summary update, I’m 307 pages into Ship of Destiny and loving it! With previous books, I found it takes me a little bit of time to get into them. I’ve eased into Ship of Destiny quite quickly in comparison. Events of the prior book in the series left us in such a place where I want to find out what happens next. So far, the book hasn’t disappointed!

Admittedly, I should be on around page 550 (I need fo read 107 pages a day to get through my reading list by the end of the month). However, as I had friends round on Thursday, I didn’t really get any significant reading done that day, and I’ve been playing catch up ever since. Having said that, I read a little bit more than needed yesterday to start catching up and it was hardly any effort at all. With previous books, I have felt I’ve had to power on a little bit as the narrative can be quite dense and therefore is a bit slower reading. I’ve not really found that yet.

Clearly, Ship of Destiny is really working for me right now. Fortunately, I now have two weeks off work and so I will be making use of some of that time to catch up and then continue with my reading!

 

Books Discovered

One of the ladies I work with (from another branch, but who I talk to quite a lot) is responsible for all three additions to my reading list this week. She is also a big reader and recommended me some fantasy books she enjoyed, as well as a non-fiction/work related book I could pick up for a bit of self development.

The fantasy additions to my TBR are The Prison Healer and The Stardust Thief.

The non-fiction add is Tranquility by Tuesday. If I enjoy this or find it useful then the author has plenty more books I can pick up. Claire has already found a couple of them useful and has added two more to her reading list by this author. You can’t really get a recommendation better than that!

 

Coming Up…

Although I’m off work, I’m sticking to my usual schedule next week. I will be enjoying some downtime, but I do also have a list of self imposed jobs to do too.

My first post of the week will be a book review. As you all know by now, I have quite the list of books outstanding review and so I’ll be checking one off the list. Next week, I’ll be sharing my thoughts on The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman.

On Friday, I’ll be sharing a First Lines Friday post. For this week’s post, I challenge myself to feature a book from my physical TBR. That still leaves me with a good deal of choice, so I have plenty to choose from!

As always, I’ll be back at the same time next week to share all my reading updates with you!

However, that’s all from me in today’s Sunday Summary! What are you reading currently?

 

signature

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Threads

Shelf Control #68 – 11/08/2023

Posted on by

Welcome to a happy Friday! It’s the end of another working week, and today marks the beginning of some annual leave for me! I’m planning to pick up several reads whilst I’m off from the 9-5, but I doubt I’ll make it to today’s Shelf Control feature just yet…

In today’s Shelf Control post, I share the details of a historical fiction novel from one of my favourite periods – the Tudors! Before we get into the detail of today’s post, let’s take a moment to recap what Shelf Control is all about if you’re unfamiliar!

Shelf Control is a regular feature on my blog – a meme run by Lisa at Bookshelf Fantasies. It’s a celebration of the unread books on our shelves! The idea is to pick a book you own but haven’t read and write a post about it (suggestions: include what it’s about, why you want to read it, and when you got it), and link up!

If you want to read more about the Shelf Control feature, check out Lisa’s introductory post.

 

Katherine of Aragon: The True Queen – Alison Weir

 

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 602

Audience: Adult

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Publication Date: 31 May 2016

 

Goodreads

The lives of Henry VIII’s queens make for dramatic stories and Alison Weir will write a series of novels that offer insights into the real lives of the six wives based on extensive research and new theories.

In all the romancing, has anyone regarded the evidence that Anne Boleyn did not love Henry VIII? Or that Prince Arthur, Katherine of Aragon’s first husband, who is said to have loved her in fact cared so little for her that he willed his personal effects to his sister? Or that Henry VIII, an over-protected child and teenager, was prudish when it came to sex? That Jane Seymour, usually portrayed as Henry’s one true love, had the makings of a matriarch? There is much to reveal …

Alison will write about the wives in the context of their own age and of the court intrigues that surrounded these women and – without exception – wrecked their lives. She will transport readers into a lost and vivid world of splendour and brutality: a world in which love, or the game of it, dominates all.

 

My Thoughts

I am yet to read any books by Alison Weir. She’s a prominent writer in the genre focusing on royalty, and as a result has written several books about the Tudors. On the one hand I’d say it’s a wonder I haven’t picked any up yet. However, considering the constant number of books I want to read, I suppose it’s not really.

I’m looking forward to diving into her Tudor books. Katherine of Aragon is the first book in her Six Tudor Queens series. If I enjoy these as much as I expect to, I’m sure I’ll branch out to other books and periods she explores.

Katherine of Aragon has been on my TBR for a little over five years now. I distinctly remember reading an article in Writing Magazine and discovering her books as a result like it was yesterday. Isn’t it funny what you remember?! If only my memory were that good all the time… I’d forgotten when I started writing my regular Sunday Summary posts on my blog. I was surprised to find a Sunday Summary post mentioning the discovery when I searched for other posts on the book on my blog!

The combination of a new-to-me author and a favourite subject is one that I can’t wait to get to. This book, and potentially the series, are a promising jaunt into a turbulent and interesting period of history!

 

I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s Shelf Control instalment!

Have you read any books from the Six Tudor Queens series, or by Alison Weir? What’s your favourite period of history to read about?

 

signature

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Threads

Top Ten Tuesday – Books I Want to Read Because of Top Ten Tuesday

Posted on by

I’m looking forward to today’s Top Ten Tuesday post as I get to share a culmination of books that have made it onto previous Top Ten Tuesday posts!

The theme of today’s post is my top ten books I want to read because of Top Ten Tuesday. I could also have chosen the past tense and featured books I’ve since read. As fun as that would be, I need an additional motivator to pick some books up – I just have so many that it’s better to reflect on those still to read. As some of these earlier posts originally intended, I want to use today’s theme as a means of chivvying myself along to get to these books!

The books I feature today have been included on at least one, but more likely several, Top Ten Tuesday posts previously. I’ll share which posts they made it onto, and why I want to share them again today.

Let’s dive in!

 

Ship of Destiny

Ship of Destiny has made it onto at least two Top Ten Tuesday posts (Spring and Summer 2023 TBR). Robin Hobb, as well as other books in her series, have also featured on lists such as my Top Ten New Authors Discovered in 2022.

After coming up multiple times, I’ll be picking up Ship of Destiny next. I could start reading it as early as later tonight!

 

Yellowface

Yellowface is an anticipated release in 2023 that I’m looking forward to picking up. It makes it to this list as I featured the author with their bestseller Babel in my New Authors Discovered in 2022 post.

I really enjoyed the cultural elements of Babel, and I have no doubt those will come to the fore in Yellowface as well!

 

Wizard and Glass

Aptly, this featured book is on my list as the series featured on my Top Ten Series I Need to Finish post. That’s still the case, although I did pick up an earlier book in the series for the first time in four years back in May.

Wizard and Glass is also on my August TBR, so I’ll be picking up this next book very soon!

 

A Storm of Swords

Another book that also made it onto the Series I Need to Finish post, although by virtue of the series not being finished this time, is A Game of Thrones.

The next in my re-read of the series is A Storm of Swords – the third book and first within the series that is divided into two parts. I’ve initially pencilled in part 1 for next month!

 

A Thousand Ships

I first read Natalie Haynes’ Pandora’s Jar in July 2022. After thoroughly enjoying that book, I added A Thousand Ships to my Top Ten Tuesday Autumn 2022 TBR.

Clearly, I didn’t get around to this book then and as of this post, I still haven’t now. Whilst I haven’t got any concrete plans in terms of timeline for picking up this book, I can’t imagine it will be too long! Then again… who knows; I have so many to read! 

 

If We Were Villains

Another book that featured on my Autumn 2022 TBR, but still have yet to read, is If We Were Villains. This book also featured in my Authors Not Read Yet But Want To list.

With a focus on literature and theatrics, it’s still a book I’m looking forward to picking up in future!

 

The Shining

I’ve read a lot of Stephen King books, and yet, I still haven’t read this classic! I own a copy of the Shining ready on my bookshelf, so I imagine I’ll try and pick this up in October.

Spooky season seems like the best time for it!

 

The Lord of the Rings

A book I recently bought which made it to a Top Ten Tuesday post historically is Lord of the Rings. Bilbo Baggins featured as a top ten bookish character, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have an itch to revisit this iconic story.

I last read it in 2017, around the birth of my blog. I bought myself a physical copy of this book recently (it was always intended to be one book rather than a trilogy) as I knew it will be one I’d want to revisit again and again.

I’m sure I’ll give into temptation before too long!

 

The Bone Collector

I couldn’t tell you how long I’ve been intending to read The Bone Collector by Jeffery Deaver. The book made it to my Authors I Haven’t Read Yet But Want To list in April 2022. Guess what? Still haven’t read it!

Probably doesn’t shock you by now…

 

The Librarian of Auschwitz

The last book in this Top Ten Tuesday also originated from my Authors I Haven’t Read Yet But Want To post.

To date, Antonio Iturbe is still an author I am yet to pick up any books by, but that’s okay. If you can be sure of anything, it’s that a bookworm has a reading list as long as their arm. And I do! I’ll get to it at some point – hopefully not too long to wait!

 

Summary

So, these are my top ten books that I want to read because I’ve featured them in a Top Ten Tuesday previously!

I hope you have enjoyed today’s Top Ten Tuesday post! Have you read any of the books on this reading list? Are any of those shared today on your list?

 

signature

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Threads

Sunday Summary – 6th August 2023

Posted on by

Happy Sunday everybody and welcome back to my weekly Sunday Summary update post. As always, I hope you’ve had a great week, wherever you are and whatever you are doing!

This week has been a very productive one when it comes to reading progress and on my blog. The end of the month/beginning of a new month are always busy for me. Both my Monthly Wrap-Up post for July and my Monthly TBR for August were shared this week. They are both chunky blog posts in themselves – to prepare and publish.

Not only that, but I also shared a blog tour review on Friday for Brothers of the Sword by Peter Gibbons. If you haven’t already checked out that post, and are a fan of historical fiction novels such as Bernard Cornwell’s The Last Kingdom, then Brothers of the Sword should be right up your alley!

 

Books Read

Brothers of the Sword

As I mentioned in last week’s Sunday Summary post, my priority this week was to finish Brothers of the Sword by Peter Gibbons. As I’ve already mentioned above, I took part in the blog tour for this book on Friday. With just a handful of days left until that post, finishing Brothers of the Sword was a must.

I went on to enjoy this book as much as I thought I would! This historical fiction novel, along with the rest of the series, is full of action. There is plenty going on at any given time in order to keep our interest. Not only that, but this isn’t done to the detriment of character development or world-building. Both of these elements are also very much present and make for a well rounded tale. I’ve already shared my thoughts in full in that blog tour post. Rather than giving you a full write up here, I’ll leave the link to that post.

 

The City of a Thousand Faces

Next, I picked up the first book of my August TBR, The City of a Thousand Faces by Walker Dryden. This particular book was drawn out of my TBR Jar on my bookshelf. It has been on my reading list for some time. I’m pleased to say that not only did I start the book this week, but I made my way through all 530 pages of it!

The City of a Thousand Faces ended up being a mixed read. Whilst I enjoyed the setting and political machinations between several characters throughout, there were elements that weren’t so well executed. My main gripe is around characterisation.

The book is told across 100 chapters from a variety of perspectives. Most of these are fine; I actually enjoyed the different perspectives and the insight they gave into a lot of the character relationships. However, there were a few incidences of getting characters mixed up with each other. Daniel and Wolf, for example, had very similar narrative voices and circumstances. I’ve also finished the book being not entirely sure about who the antagonist in the story even was, which is a bit disappointing.

Overall, I the book received a three star rating.

 

Spike: The Virus vs The People

The last book I picked up and made progress with this week was Spike: The Virus vs The People. In my aim to pick up more non-fiction books this year, I have no less than three on my August TBR. The first of those I decided to pick up is, as the title would indicate, about the recent pandemic. It is strange to think that the pandemic kicked off over three years ago now. In some senses, it seems like ages ago, and in others, like yesterday.

As of this Sunday Summary update post, I have made 29% progress through the book. I made the majority of that reading progress just this morning. It’s compulsive reading! Whilst I’m sure there are plenty who wouldn’t feel comfortable reading about the pandemic just now, I am really interested in digging into the detail. It’s weird to think that I have lived through an event that will go down in history and will be talked about for years to come. Not only that, but I’m curious to find out some of the insights the author can give that wasn’t public knowledge at the time events were unfolding.

Given how quickly I’ve been able to make the reading progress I have, I expect I will fly through the rest of this book.

 

Books Discovered

When reading around the book blogosphere earlier today, I found a First Lines Friday post with a featured book that caught my eye. I hadn’t noted down where I saw that post, but fortunately I was able to find it again. The post was originally shared over on Read to Ramble.

I enjoyed the introduction, and the synopsis appealed to me as well. I take part in the First Lines Friday feature on a regular basis myself, so it’s good to see that these posts do inspire books to be added to the reading list. At least, it works for me!

 

Coming Up…

Next week, I will be returning to my usual three post schedule. Whilst I can manage a full post week now and then, it’s quite a lot to juggle!

The first post I will be sharing with you next week goes live on Tuesday. It’s been a while since I shared a Top Ten Tuesday post, and I’m excited for this week’s topic. This week’s theme is to share my top 10 books that I want to pick up as a result of the Top Ten Tuesday Series. The ‘why’ is that my discretion, I just have to share my top ten. I’ll obviously detail each ‘why’ in that post! 

This week’s Friday feature will see the return of a Shelf Control post. If you are unfamiliar with this series, I take a look at my reading list and feature one that’s coming up. I’ll share the details of that book and why I’m looking forward to picking it up. For this week’s post, I will be featuring a book that revolves around one of my favourite periods of history, the Tudors. This will also be a new author for me to explore, but one who is well known and esteemed in the genre.

Last, but certainly not least, I will be back with another Sunday Summary update at the same time next week. I expect to have a lot more reading progress to share with you, as I seem to be on a good run at the moment.

That’s all from me for today’s Sunday Summary update. What have you been reading this week? Are there any books that have caught your eye?

 

signature

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Threads

Monthly Wrap-Up – July 2023

Posted on by

Happy August friends and welcome to my monthly wrap-up post for the month of July! As always, I set myself a colossal TBR and didn’t get around to all the books on it, but that’s okay. I still read a decent amount. I’ve also taken time out to enjoy doing other things as and when I wanted.

Let’s take a look at what I read in the last month!

 

Books Read

 

The House in the Cerulean Sea

I started off the month of July by finishing one of the last reads I picked up at the end of June. The House in the Cerulean Sea was a heartwarming read that I didn’t know I needed, but I was a big fan of. I talk about that book a little bit more in my June wrap-up, if you’re interested.

I was pleasantly surprised by the narrative, characters, and how invested I got in the book. It’s an experience that I’ll be looking to repeat when picking up more books by T.J. Klune.

 

Death at the Caravan Park

My next priority in terms of reading for July was to pick up Death at the Caravan Park by Susan Willis. I agreed to provide a review for the recent blog tour organised by Rachel’s Random Resources.

In part, I decided to pick it up because it has been a little minute since I picked up a cosy crime. It’s not a genre I read a lot of, but it was a change that was well received. The setting of the book was quite relatable to me in that it was set in a seaside town. Living on a small island, I’ve never really far away from the sea myself! I’ve also stayed at a caravan park before, and I have known characters very similar to that in the book.

If you want to check out my full thoughts on that book, here is a link to my blog tour review post.

 

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

Having read and enjoyed another work of fiction that largely features mental health recently, I was excited for this book to come out of my TBR Jar. If you’re not familiar, I have a jar on my bookshelf, full of scraps of paper with book titles from my reading list to pick from randomly.

July’s pick ended up being Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. I was also quite pleased that this book finally made it onto the reading list as it has been on my radar for the last five years. It was probably one of the oldest books on my reading list at that point, so it was about due to come up!

Whilst I had an idea that the book revolved around mental health, I didn’t really know much more about it. Aside from that, it has a gripping plot with intriguing characters and takes you on a journey you don’t expect. I enjoyed this book so much that I read pretty much the second half of it in one day! I’d ended up arriving early for a hospital appointment (just a routine check, nothing sinister) so I started my reading that day while sat in my car waiting. I continued to read all that evening until I was finished. Just don’t ask me how late to bed I was that night…

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine is it very easy, five-star rating for me, and arguably, it was one of the best books I read in July!

 

Storm of War

Although not strictly for a blog tour itself, I picked up Storm of War by Peter Gibbons as I am reviewing the next book in the series later this week. With this in mind, I had to catch up on that first.

The events of Storm of War follow on quite nicely from Warrior and Protector. I was able to pick up the story and characters very easily, and the action packed narrative we saw in that first book definitely carried through!

If you enjoy historical fiction set in 10th century Britain, then the series is definitely one I’d recommend picking up. The narrative style is nice and easy to get on with. I also enjoy the amount of action and political machinations in the book. I feel there is a perfect balance to feel authentic for the period, and keep us guessing what happens next.

Storm of War set the foundation nicely to be able to pick up my current read, Brothers of the Sword.

 

Cytonic

Drawing with Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, Cytonic by Brandon Sanderson was also one of my favourite reads of the month. This third instalment in the Skyward series is, in my opinion, the best so far! That’s not to detract from the previous books, because they have laid down a lot of the groundwork that enable us to get stuck in with Cytonic.

Each of the books so far have been quite different in terms of the setting and plot arc. I’ve enjoyed each of them for different reasons, but I really invested into this latest narrative. Spensa is finally discovering who and what she is, and more about the universe around her. Having spent her life previously as an isolated young woman, there is only so far Sanderson was able to take the world building. There has been a lot of teasing and unveiling in order to keep us interested, but in Cytonic, everything blooms!

Also, I’m happy to have read the book and be caught up with the series, although I’m even more excited about the fact that this won’t be true for long. The next book in the series, Defiant, comes out in November!

 

Brothers of the Sword

As of the end of July, I just finished up my read of Brothers of the Sword by Peter Gibbons. As I’ve already mentioned above, I am due to be reviewing the book very shortly for the upcoming blog tour.

Even though I enjoyed Storm of War, I can very happily say that I enjoyed Brothers of the Sword even more. Without giving anything away, the author definitely isn’t pulling his punches on the events of this third book in the series. Set in a brutal time period where Vikings and Saxons clash amongst each other, there is always lots of action and plenty of risk to have us questioning the safety of characters we have come to love. In my opinion, the action scenes are written very well in order to balance action with detail to make for a vivid experience.

I finished Brothers of the Sword just in the nick of time for this monthly wrap-up! Well, I finished it at about 12:10am this morning, but that was before I slept for the night. In my eyes, that counts!

 

Summary

Once again, I didn’t get to the end of my ambitious reading list. I’m okay with that though! I set the list as a way of trying to push myself, but I don’t beat myself up if I don’t finish either. The truth is, I’ve enjoyed the reading experience I’ve had this month. Yet, I’ve still allowed for other hobbies and things I need to do.

It’s not going to stop me from setting another ambitious reading list in the next couple of days… let’s be honest! At least I have some time off during August to make a considerable attempt at it.

So, here concludes my monthly wrap-up for July 2023! Have you read any of the books I have featured in today’s list? Have any of them caught your eye to pick up for yourself? As always, I’d love to have a natter in the comments or on social media, so let’s chat!

 

signature

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Fable